Gastrectomy to Treat Gastric Cancer Occurring after Coronary Artery Bypass Graft with the Right Gastroepiploic Artery ―A Study of Three Cases

Abstract

There is no established surgical strategy to manage dissection of the infrapyloric lymph node in cases of gastric cancer occurring after a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) with the right gastroepiploic artery (RGEA). We performed gastrectomy in three patients with gastric cancer who had undergone CABG using RGEA. In order to reduce the preoperative risk, we dissected the infrapyloric lymph node by skeletonizing the RGEA bypass graft without redoing the CABG. No recurrence of the disease has been observed in any of the three patients. It is important to implement a non-invasive surgical strategy for gastric cancer patients at high risk due to severe heart disease or advanced age. This gastrectomy procedure is an adequate noninvasive surgical strategy, because it enables a complete cure without coronary revascularization.